---
title: 'Lead Data Engineer at Stellic'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-data-engineer-stellic-san-mateo-zxszh6yvsdgk'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Lead Data Engineer at Stellic

- **Company:** Stellic
- **Location:** San Mateo, CA
- **Compensation:** $230k–$260k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** hybrid
- **Posted:** 2026-08-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/stellic/ebc73b73-09f5-4cc2-a851-6961200bb011/application

**Skills:** Data Engineering, Data Pipeline Design, Data Modeling, Data Processing, Data Validation, Data Lineage, Schema Registry, PostgreSQL, SQL, Python, Terraform, dbt, MWAA, Ariflow, S3, Redshift, Git, AWS, AWS CodeDeploy, Sentry

> Lead the design, evolution, and operation of Stellic's scalable data platform, owning end-to-end data pipelines from ingestion to customer-facing systems. This role involves building reliable data processing systems, defining flexible data models, and ensuring compliance with regional requirements while supporting i...

## Job description

Stellic is growing! We're looking for a Lead Data Engineer to own the next phase of our data platform that will power everything from internal decision-making to customer-facing insights — and we need a technical leader who can evolve it to support increasing scale, complexity, and product integration.

## ABOUT US

We're building a future where every student can move through their education with clarity, confidence, and purpose. Our platform transforms the student experience, giving them the tools they need to make the right decisions about their degree plans, track their journey, and build an education and career path that's truly their own. Stellic is a fast-growing startup backed by leading social impact investors, partnering with top institutions like Cornell, Columbia, UVA, and Ohio State to support over 1 million students across 7 countries. As we scale to serve more universities worldwide, we remain deeply committed to this mission, driven by our values, and committed to building a high-performance team that's here to make a lasting difference on both students' lives and higher education.

## STELLIC ENGINEERS

Stellic engineers combine a rare blend of curiosity, creativity, and business acumen with the ability to deliver pragmatic solutions at high velocity with uncompromising quality. Our mission is to help students, and our engineers always have that in mind as they are building.

## THE DATA TEAM

Stellic's data platform will be critical part of how we operate and deliver value, and will power everything from internal decision-making to customer-facing insights. The platform spans data ingestion, transformation, aggregation, and presentation — with much of the foundation in place, but requiring significant iteration and expansion to support new use cases and growing scale. We work with data that is highly variable across partners and regions, requiring thoughtful system design to balance standardization with flexibility. In addition to the internal platform, this role is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining customer-facing data systems that extend the core architecture directly to university partners. As a technical lead on Data, you will own the next phase of our data architecture, shaping both the platform and how data is leveraged across the product. This is a hands-on, high-impact role focused on building and operating a data platform that is scalable, adaptable, and aligned with both internal and product needs. This role will play a central part in shaping both the platform and how data is leveraged across the product.

## ABOUT YOU

You've designed and operated data pipelines at scale before, and you understand what it means to build systems with clear guarantees around correctness and consistency. You think carefully about data models, lineage, and validation — and you're equally comfortable owning the internal platform and the customer-facing products built on top of it.

AS OUR LEAD DATA ENGINEER, YOU WILL OWN

- Data platform, end to end: Own the design, evolution, and operation of Stellic's data pipelines from ingestion through transformation, aggregation, and presentation.
- Customer-facing data systems: Design, build, and maintain customer-facing data products built on top of the core data architecture, extending the platform's value directly to university partners.
- Scalable, reliable data processing: Build and maintain systems that ensure consistent and reliable data processing at scale, with clear guarantees around correctness and behavior.
- Data models across varied requirements: Design data models and pipelines that balance standardization with flexibility to support diverse regional and institutional requirements.
- Compliance and partner requirements: Ensure systems meet regional and partner-specific data requirements and compliance constraints.
- Platform evolution: Identify and drive improvements across the data platform to support new use cases and increased scale. Establish patterns for data correctness, consistency, and maintainability.

## TO BE SUCCESSFUL, YOU SHOULD HAVE

- 8+ years of data engineering experience with previous technical lead experience
- Deep experience designing and operating data pipelines across ingestion, transformation, and aggregation layers
- Strong expertise in building scalable data processing systems with clear guarantees around correctness and consistency
- Experience designing data models that balance standardization with flexibility across varied requirements
- Strong understanding of data correctness, lineage, and validation in complex data systems
- Familiarity with ensuring compliance with varied regional and partner-specific data requirements
- Ideal candidates will also have experience building and owning customer-facing data systems or data products
- Clear and effective communication skills for collaborating with product, design, and customer-facing teams
- Deep curiosity, customer empathy, and commitment to engineering as a craft

## OUR CURRENT TECH STACK

While we plan on introducing new technologies and capabilities, and potentially migrating away from current ones, here is the general shape of our current stack:

- Data Pipeline:
- Schema: Pydantic
- Infrastructure: Terraform
- Data transforms: dbt
- Orchestration: MWAA / Airflow
- Storage: S3 + Redshift Serverless
- Catalog: Glue Data Catalog + Schema Registry
- Governance: Lake Formation ABAC
- Languages: Python, SQL
- Frameworks: Django, Angular, React, Remix
- Databases: PostgreSQL, ElasticSearch, Redis
- Version control: Git (GitHub)
- Cloud: AWS
- Deployment: AWS CodeDeploy
- Observability & Analytics: Sentry, Grafana, Prometheus, PostHog, Metabase
- Both single and multi-tenant architecture

## WHY YOU'LL LOVE WORKING AT STELLIC

- Shape the future of higher education at a company leading the transformation of student success.
- Work alongside an ambitious, mission-driven leadership team building something meaningful.
- Own a piece of the journey with competitive salary, meaningful equity and a culture of excellence, speed and ownership.
- Thrive in a flexible, outcome-driven culture built on trust and autonomy.
- Exceptional benefits, including health insurance with Stellic covering 99% of your premium and 75% for dependents.
- 401(k), commuter benefits, and annual international retreats in incredible locations.

Stellic is an Equal Opportunity Employer Our company values diversity and believes diverse teams make innovation possible. We encourage all qualified applicants from any race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or other characteristics to apply.

## About Stellic

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Stellic provides a degree management and student success platform that helps higher education institutions guide students from enrollment to graduation.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed Stage, $13M total funding raised)
- **Headquarters**: San Mateo, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2017
- **Founders**: Not publicly named, but founded by former college students who partnered with advisor Mark Stehlik (after whom the platform is named)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Education Technology (EdTech) / Higher Education SaaS
- **Target customers**: Higher education institutions (universities, colleges) — B2B, selling to administrators and advisors
- **Mission or purpose**: "Make the most out of every student’s education" and "Set students’ lives on a trajectory they’ll be proud of"

## Products & Services
- **Degree Audit**: Gives students a complete understanding of where they stand on the path to graduation.
- **Planner**: Lets students choose, chart, and change the courses they plan to take within a single workspace.
- **Progress Tracking**: Visualizes each student's past, present, and future academic journey.
- **Transfer Rules Management**: Create and maintain transfer rules so students can move forward without retracing steps.
- **Transcript OCR**: Automates transcript processing to eliminate manual data entry.
- **Pathways**: Shows incoming students what degree paths best match their goals and existing credits; also shows how education could unfold across different programs or timelines.
- **Reporting and Alerts**: Gives advisors the ability to act early when students seem at risk of falling behind.
- **Appointments**: Makes scheduling sessions with students more efficient for advisors.
- **Notes**: Central hub for logging insights about each student, keeping the support network informed.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: $13M total funding raised (from impact-first investors) [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Raised from "impact-first investors" (specific names not publicly listed)
- **Growth Signals**:
  - Over 1 million students supported as of the latest data [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/)
  - Used by over 90 higher education institutions worldwide [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)
  - 2x year-over-year growth [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - 111+ countries represented among users [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/about)
  - 92 total employees [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)

## Competitive Advantages
- **Founder-market fit**: Built by former college students who experienced the problem firsthand, partnered with an advisor who understood institutional needs.
- **Platform named after advisor Mark Stehlik** — the product was co-created with someone who deeply understood both student and administrative pain points.
- **Accessibility certified** and protects student privacy (FERPA compliance implied) [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/)
- **Integrated platform** that serves students, advisors, and administrators in one system — reducing reliance on "patchwork of disconnected tools" [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/about)
- **Strong mission-driven brand**: "Innovation for students, by (former) students" [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)

## Strategic Focus
- **Expanding institutional reach**: Growing from 90+ institutions toward broader adoption across higher education.
- **Deepening the platform**: Continuing to build out tools for degree planning, transfer management, and student success analytics.
- **International growth**: Serving users from 111+ countries indicates global ambition.
- **Data-driven insights**: Emphasis on "Reporting and Alerts" and "Insights" suggests analytics and predictive capabilities are a priority.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as mission-driven with values including "You are a true student" (curiosity/learning), "You own the mission" (outcome-focused), "You drive for 10x" (ambition), and "You lead with heart" (empathy) [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
- **Work environment**: Hybrid — San Mateo office encourages in-office Tuesdays and Thursdays; Karachi office encourages Mondays and Thursdays. Flexible policy overall [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)
- **Perks**:
  - 99% covered health, dental, and vision insurance [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - 401(k) and IRA plans [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - Market-aligned compensation with equity [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - Parental leave for all parents [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - Flexible PTO [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - Pre-tax commuter benefits [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
  - International team retreat each year [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
- **Team**: 92 total employees, 36 in Product + Tech [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)
- **Engineering culture**: Tech stack includes modern tools; roles like Lead Data Infrastructure Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Tech Lead positions indicate strong engineering focus [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)

## Sources
1. [stellic.com](https://www.stellic.com/)
2. [stellic.com/careers](https://www.stellic.com/careers)
3. [stellic.com/about](https://www.stellic.com/about)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/stellic)
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/stellic)

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